Feeding-rack



(No Model.)

H.D.STREATOR.

FEEDING RACK.

Patented Nov. 3, 1885.

1421/6712-07'. By. W

UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

HENRY D. STREATOR, OF GALESBURG, MICHIGAN.

FEEDING-RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,500, dated November 3, 1885.

Application filed September 5, 1884. Serial No. 142,287.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRYD. STREATOR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Galesburg, county of Kalamazoo, State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Feeding-Rack, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object certain improvements below described and claimed.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view; Fig. 2, a broken part in enlarged perspective; and Fig. 3 is an end elevation, portions being broken away.

I prefer to make the rack with one end open and the other end closed, as at I. The upper side strips, 25 t, and the lower side strips, 8 s, are secured to the upright corner-posts A. I usually set these posts slanting, as in the drawings, thus making the tray widest across the top. To the side strips,t t s s, are secured cleats a a, a space being left between the cleats for the sheep or other stock to put their heads through and eat the grain deposited on the floor D.

F F are end supportiug-blocks,on which the rack rests upon the ground or floor of a building.

7" a" are braces secured at each end to the end posts and supporting-blocks.

The doors B B are hinged to the upper side strips, t t, (see f, Fig. 2,) in a manner to swing down and close the openings between the cleats a a.

If found necessary, buttons o 1) may be provided for fastening the doors B B in their elevated and closed positions, Figs. 1 and 2.

The open end of the rack may be located at an opening in a fence, which forms the inclosure of one side of a pen, or in an opening in a partition in a building. The person in attendance on the stock walks in the rack at the open end, cleans it out, and distributes the feed in equal quantities on the floorDwithoutdanger of pouring the feed upon the heads of the impatient animals, and wasting it or depositing it in an uneven manner. While thus feeding, the doors are down, closing the openings between the cleats a a, as at the front side of Fig. l. The attendant then raises the doors, and the animals take their places without undue disturbance of each other.

(No model.)

The habit of sheep pulling the wool from each other in search of grain deposited in the wool while feeding is by the use of this rack overcome. It may be used with the doors down, as a tray in which to feed horses and other large animals.

In Fig. 3 the lower edges of the doors B B are beveled to engage each other when raised to the position shown in said figure, thus forming a roof over the heads of the sheep. G is a hook and staple for locking the doors in said position. The end P may be made tight or slatted, like the sides; but I prefer to make it closed, as in Fig. 1. The racks may be made having more than one compartment, the rack here shown representing one compartment. The doors thus hinged at the top can be easily swung up within the rack after the feed has been deposited on the floor of the rack without conflicting with the heads of the crowding sheep, as would be the case if the doors swung outward. For this reason the operation is facilitated as compared with racks having swinging doors heretofore used; and, further, it will be observed that a roof may be formed over the heads of the sheep and the food they are eating without any lateral extension of the rack, as in prior devices, which require a larger yard or necessitate the use of a less number of racks; and, as before stated, large stock can eat grain out of the rack over the top when the doors are down, excluding the small stock, from the fact that the doors are hinged at the top edge, and hence swinging them down does not throw up a portion of the door to extend the side of the rack upward, as in racks having the doors centrally pivoted.

In view of the prior state of the art, I do not claim a hinged door and a door capable of forming a roof, broadly, but the novel improvements facilitating the utility and operation, as pointed out in the specification and claim.

Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A feeding-rack consisting of end supporting-blocks, a floor forming the bottom of the rack, slanting corner-posts, braces securing the posts in their slanting upright position,

side strips secured to the posts and bounding I In testimony of the foregoing I have here- IO the upper and lower side of the side openunto subscribed my name in presence of two ings, cleats attached to said strips subdividwitnesses.

ing the openings and doors hinged to the upper side strips Within the rack,and adapted HENRY D. STREATOR. to be swung upward to allow access to the rack A through the side openings and to form a roof Witnesses:

over the interior of the rack, all substantially SAM FALZ,

as set forth. JOHN H. CHASE. 

